00:00This hotel in Kinshasa is not where Hugo Palencia-Rapera expected to end up when he applied for asylum in
00:09the United States.
00:11Originally from Colombia, Rapera arrived in the DRC last week with several other Latin American migrants.
00:19They've all been deported from America.
00:23I don't know what happened. I was detained for five months.
00:27As time went on, I thought they were going to release me because I had no criminal record and I
00:33hadn't yet appeared before a judge.
00:35I spent five months without appearing before a judge, whether a federal judge or an immigration judge.
00:41And then suddenly, on April 15th, I was told that I was going to be transferred to the Democratic Republic
00:47of the Congo, my third country,
00:50because when I entered the United States in 2023, I'd been granted protection and a convention against torture.
00:58Gabriela is also from Colombia.
01:01She says the journey was an ordeal.
01:04Worse, they don't know what will happen to them now.
01:08I was like, I don't want to go to the Congo. I'm scared. It's a country I don't know. I
01:13don't speak the language.
01:15I've got so much on my mind and I'm really anxious at the same time.
01:19My family, everyone was desperate because it's still quite an extreme situation.
01:24And after that, we found ourselves here in the Congo after an extremely long 27-hour flight,
01:30during which we were handcuffed the whole time at our hands and feet.
01:36The new arrivals have been given little information.
01:40They worry they'll have to accept voluntary repatriation once their seven-day visa expires.
